Living American dream illegally

By Jessica Heslam
Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Obama Onyango lives in a modest, single-family home on a quiet, leafy street in Framingham.

He hosted popular backyard barbecues. His pale yellow house was always bustling with people.

And he’d pass the time on the front porch, adorned with a welcome mat and flower pots.


It almost sounds like the American Dream. A 2011 version of it, maybe. Because the 67-year-old Kenyan who happens to be President Obama’s uncle wasn’t supposed to be living here, let alone driving drunk here. He’s what some people call undocumented. What others call illegal.

Immigration authorities had been on the lookout for Onyango and found him last week after Framingham cops busted him on an operating under the influence charge. He’s currently locked up in Plymouth County Jail on an immigration warrant.

Court documents report Onyango’s eyes were bloodshot and glassy when the cops pulled him over last week, after he narrowly missed a police cruiser with his SUV. He reeked of alcohol. He slurred his speech and was wobbly on his feet. He failed three field sobriety tests and blew nearly double the legal limit.

“I think I will call the White House,” Onyango said when the cops offered him his one phone call.

Onyango’s arrest comes on the heels of a horrific drunken-driving accident in Milford, where an illegal alien is accused of dragging a young man to death.

Onyango’s sister is Zeituni Onyango, the president’s aunt who won asylum last year after reporters found her living — also as an illegal alien — on welfare in a South Boston public housing project.

At least the uncle had a job . . . even if he wasn’t legally entitled to one. Obama Onyango told police he worked at a local liquor store.

No one in the Onyango household was interested in talking about it yesterday. But neighbors were stunned to learn the president’s uncle was living among them, in their working-class neighborhood.

Jennifer Jimenez, 26, affectionately referred to him as the “old guy” while growing up.

“He’s just a normal guy. He’s always saying hi to us. He’s very nice,” Jimenez said. “He’s like the big guy of the house. He takes care of everybody.”

Longtime resident Roger Small said, “He’s cordial, neighborly. You see a lot of the neighborhood kids in their back yard.”

Yesterday, SUVs lined the driveway of Onyango’s home. A young man mowed the lawn, and a girl on the porch was staring intently at her laptop.

To think, this humble Framingham household is just one degree of separation from the White House. It looked exactly like a little slice of the American Dream . . . except for Onyango, it is illegal.

Related Story: Obama’s uncle had Social Security ID